This 1955 Chevrolet Gasser Will Take You Back to the Glory Days of Hot Rodding

Filthy Five: Ron Blanchard’s Evil, Mean, and Nasty ’55 Chevy

Ever walk through a car show or a cruise night and come across a car that has such a deep crowd around it that you have to sift your way through just to catch a glimpse? It’s the one that has everybody talking; one with such a wicked stance and massive attitude it looks like something the devil himself would drive. We recently came across one such car at the 2015 Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California, where its presence quickened the pulse of anyone within its sight line.

Flash back to Southern California car culture during the early ’60s where the sounds of hopped-up V-8’s snarling through long-tube headers lit up the streets. If you were pulled in by the hypnotic sounds there was most likely a dragstrip nearby where you could see plenty of your hot rod heroes challenge the Christmas Tree, and each other, on a weekly basis. If this sounds like it was adrenaline rush, you’re right, it was; and the spirit of the era carries on with the car you see here … more on that in a moment.

Ron Blanchard of Ontario, California, was one of those chosen few who got indoctrinated into the hobby at a young age. While growing up, a good portion of his time was spent working at his uncle’s small-engine repair shop, which was usually packed with customs being built during the off-hours. This is where he initially learned to spin a wrench under his uncle’s guidance, which then led him down a path to mastering his high school auto shop classes. Being able to check out late-night racing on the streets of the Inland Empire as well as at the dragstrip supercharged his passion, which led to him owning a group of hop-ups over the decades, including a twin-turbo 1967 Camaro RS. He never forgot the wild days of watching cars launch from the lights at the busy Southern California dragstrips, and it was an elusive 1955 Chevy gasser that still haunted him, leading to countless sleepless nights.

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As the owner of Performance Carb & Speed in Ontario for over 20 years, he put the word out amongst his contacts that he was looking for a ’55 to build. The search started with one of his good friends giving him a set of fenderwell headers to act as motivation to kick the search into high gear. Eventually, one of his customers contacted him with the offer of an original ’55 Chevy 210. It was a center-steer, altered wheelbase car from back in the day that had undoubtedly seen better days. Closer inspection proved that it had been engineered with a 10-percent setback-style, and the existing firewall, A-pillar, and driver-side floor had been cut off the car and tacked back on. Ron saw potential. The pusher was hauled back to his shop.

It didn’t take long to tear the car down to a pile, and it was determined the original spine was too far gone to reuse. A clean, original frame was then sourced to kick-start the build. In order to retain some of the car’s vintage drag spirit, he modified the wheelbase to 119 inches, followed by nailing a 1968 Chrysler 8 3/4-inch rear out back filled with 3.55 gears matched to custom-fabbed ladder bars, leaf springs, and tube shocks. To bring plenty of nostalgia up front, the original tube axle was deftly matched to 1948-’54 Chevy spindles, parallel leaf springs, and tube shocks. If you’re planning to go fast, you’d better have plenty of stopping power, so juice flows through a GM twin-bowl master via steel lines to Chrysler drums out back and 1970 Camaro discs up front. Nothing says gasser like an original set of Fenton wheels wearing M&H skinnies up front and Towel City cheater slicks out back.

If you want to make an impression on the street or at the dragstrip, nothing brings more attitude to the party than a well-massaged vintage 396ci Chevy big-block. Ron had Furiani Racing of San Dimas, California, assemble a total fire breather, starting with a base filled with a steel GM crank linked to matching rods and TRW pistons. A COMP Cams stick sets the thump while a set of massaged GM oval port heads help make loads of power. Fuel flows through a pair of 1965-era Holley 390-cfm carbs with mechanical linkage tweaked by Performance Carb perched atop an Edelbrock TRX2 tunnel-ram intake. MSD lights the fire while gasses dump through period-correct Hooker fenderwell headers to a custom 3-inch stainless exhaust and Black Widow mufflers. Classic details like the Offenhauser finned aluminum valve covers and velocity stacks settled atop the carbs add the right amount of nostalgic flavor to the combination putting out a rock-solid 500 hp at 6,500 rpm. Power moves rearward through a GM TH400 reworked by Speedway Trans to a custom driveshaft.

Since the car had been beaten to death over the past few decades, Ron had his work cut out to bring the body back to life. His tasks included replacing the floors and outer rockers, reworking the quarter-panels and package tray, and massaging every inch of the vintage steel back to perfection. Once completed, the car was handed over to the talented team at Flaco’s Customs of Montclair, California, to make the final bodywork razor sharp and prep it for a decadent coating of Axalta Clear Water Blue. Once the reassembly was completed, Tom Clark was turned loose to add the wicked graphics bringing the car a new life.

To keep the car within its era-correct parameters, the original rollbar remains anchored in place accented by a custom-painted original dash, engine-turned aluminum, and vitals monitored through a combination of stock and Stewart-Warner gauges. Sew Cal Upholstery of Ontario stitched up a time-perfect interior covering the JAZ Products buckets and side panels in biscuit-style vinyl and floors in blue loop-pile carpet.

Ron yanks the gears through a B&M stick while he navigates via a blue metalflake Mooneyes steering wheel, with tunes flowing through a JVC head unit to Kicker amps and speakers.

As with any large project, there are necessary acknowledgements, and Ron would like to thank good friend Dave Dewoody of Out of the Past Customs in Ontario, California, for all his help throughout the build.

All in all, it’s just plain bitchin to see another sky-high ’55 once again doing time on the streets and offering a glimpse of what hot rodding was like back in the good ol’ days.